Sing, O goddess, the anger [ mênis ] of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon
 the Achaeans. Many a brave soul [ psukhê ] did it
 send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so was the will of Zeus
 fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great
 Achilles, first fell out with one another. And which of the gods was it that
 set them on to quarrel? It was the son of Zeus and Leto; for he was angry with
 the king and sent a pestilence upon the host to plague
 the people, because the son of Atreus had dishonored Chryses his priest. Now
 Chryses had come to the ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had
 brought with him a great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the scepter of
 Apollo wreathed with a suppliant's wreath and he besought the Achaeans, but most of all
 the two sons of Atreus, who were their chiefs. "Sons of Atreus," he cried, "and
 all other Achaeans, may the gods who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to reach your
 homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a ransom for
 her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Zeus." On this the rest of the Achaeans
 with one voice were for respecting the priest and taking the ransom that he
 offered; but not so Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly
 away. "Old man," said he, "let me not find you tarrying about our ships, nor
 yet coming hereafter. Your scepter of the god and your wreath shall profit you
 nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow old in my house at Argos far from her own home, busying herself with her loom and
 visiting my couch; so go, and do not provoke me or it shall be the worse for
 you." The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went by the
 shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo whom lovely Leto
 had borne. "Hear me," he cried, "O god of the silver bow, you who protect
 Chryse and holy Cilla and rule
 Tenedos with your might, hear
 me O god of Sminthe. If I have ever decked your temple with garlands, or burned for you thigh-bones in fat of bulls or
 goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon the
 Danaans." Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down furious
 from the summits of Olympus , with his bow and his quiver upon his shoulder,
 and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage that trembled within him. He
 sat himself down away from the ships with a face as dark as night, and his
 silver bow rang death as he shot his arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their mules and their hounds, but
 presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves, and all day long the
 pyres of the dead were burning. For nine whole days he shot his arrows among
 the people, but upon the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly - moved thereto by Hera, who saw the Achaeans in
 their death-throes and had compassion upon them. Then, when they were got
 together, he rose and spoke among them. "Son of Atreus," said he, "I deem that
 we should now turn roving home if we would escape destruction,
 for we are being cut down by war and pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest
 or seer [ mantis ], or some reader of dreams (for
 dreams, too, are of Zeus) who can tell us why Phoebus Apollo is so angry, and
 say whether it is for some vow that we have broken,
 or hecatomb that we have not offered, and whether he will accept the savor of
 lambs and goats without blemish, so as to take away the plague from us." With
 these words he sat down, and Kalkhas son of Thestor, wisest of augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose
 to speak. He it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to Ilion , through the prophesyings with which
 Phoebus Apollo had inspired him. With all sincerity and goodwill he addressed
 them thus: - "Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger [ mênis ] of
 King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and swear that you will
 stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I know that I shall offend one who
 rules the Argives with might, to whom all the Achaeans are in subjection. A plain man cannot stand against the anger of a
 king, who if he swallow his displeasure now, will yet nurse revenge till he has
 wreaked it. Consider, therefore, whether or no you will protect me." And
 Achilles answered, "Fear not, but speak as it is borne in upon you
 from heaven, for by Apollo, Kalkhas, to whom you pray, and whose oracles you
 reveal to us, not a Danaan at our ships shall lay his hand upon you, while I
 yet live to look upon the face of the earth - no, not though you name Agamemnon himself, who
 is by far the foremost of the Achaeans." Thereon the seer [ mantis ] spoke boldly. "The god," he said, "is angry neither about
 vow nor hecatomb, but for his priest's sake, whom Agamemnon has dishonored, in that he would not free his daughter nor take
 a ransom for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon us, and will yet send
 others. He will not deliver the Danaans from this pestilence till Agamemnon has
 restored the girl without fee or ransom to her father, and has sent a holy
 hecatomb to Chryse . Thus we may perhaps appease him." With these words he
 sat down, and Agamemnon rose in anger. His heart was black with rage, and his
 eyes flashed fire as he scowled on Kalkhas and said, "Seer [ mantis ] of evil, you never yet prophesied smooth
 things concerning me, but have ever loved to foretell that which was evil. You
 have brought me neither comfort nor performance; and now you come seeing among
 Danaans, and saying that Apollo has plagued us because I would not
 take a ransom for this girl, the daughter of Chryses. I have set my heart on
 keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even than my own wife
 Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and feature, in understanding and
 accomplishments. Still I will give her up if I must, for I would have the
 people live, not die; but you must find me a prize instead, or I alone among
 the Argives shall be without one. This is not well; for you behold, all of you, that my prize is to
 go elsewhere." And Achilles answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, covetous
 beyond all humankind, how shall the Achaeans find you another prize? We have no
 common store from which to take one. Those we took from the cities have been
 awarded; we cannot disallow the awards that have been made already. Give this
 girl, therefore, to the god, and if ever Zeus grants us to sack the city of
 Troy we will requite you three and
 fourfold." Then Agamemnon said, "Achilles, valiant though
 you be, you shall not thus get the better of me in matters of the mind [ noos ]. You shall not overreach and you shall not
 persuade me. Are you to keep your own prize, while I sit tamely under my loss
 and give up the girl at your bidding? Let the Achaeans find me a prize in fair
 exchange to my liking, or I will come and take your own, or that of Ajax or of
 Odysseus; and he to whomsoever I may come shall rue my coming. But of this we will take thought hereafter; for
 the present, let us draw a ship into the sea, and find a crew for her
 expressly; let us put a hecatomb on board, and let us send Chryseis also;
 further, let some chief man among us be in command, either Ajax, or Idomeneus, or yourself, son of
 Peleus, mighty warrior that you are, that we may offer sacrifice and appease
 the anger of the god." Achilles scowled at him and answered, "You are steeped
 in insolence and lust of gain. With what heart can any of the Achaeans do your
 bidding, either on foray or in open fighting? I came to make war here not
 because the Trojans are responsible [ aitioi ] for
 any wrong committed against me. I have no quarrel with them. They have not
 raided my cattle nor my horses, nor cut down my harvests on the fertile plains
 of Phthia ; for between me and them
 there is a great space, both mountain and sounding sea. We have followed you,
 Sir Insolence! for your pleasure, not ours - to gain satisfaction [ timê ] from the Trojans for your shameless self and for
 Menelaos. You forget this, and threaten to rob me of the
 prize for which I have toiled, and which the sons of the Achaeans have given
 me. Never when the Achaeans sack any rich city of the Trojans do I receive so
 good a prize as you do, though it is my hands that do the better part
 of the fighting. When the sharing comes, your share is far the largest, and I,
 indeed, must go back to my ships, take what I can get and be thankful, when my
 labor of fighting is done. Now, therefore, I shall go back to Phthia ; it will be much better for me to return home with my ships, for I will
 not stay here dishonored to gather gold and substance for you." And Agamemnon
 answered, "Flee if you will, I shall make you no prayers to stay you. I have
 others here who will do me honor, and above all Zeus, the
 lord of counsel. There is no king here so hateful to me as you are, for you are
 ever quarrelsome and ill affected. What though you be brave? Was it not heaven
 that made you so? Go home, then, with your ships and comrades to lord it over the Myrmidons. I care neither
 for you nor for your anger; and thus will I do: since Phoebus Apollo is taking
 Chryseis from me, I shall send her with my ship and my followers, but I shall
 come to your tent and take your own prize Briseis, that you may learn
 how much more prestigious I am than you are, and that another may fear to set
 himself up as equal or comparable with me." The son of Peleus felt grief [ akhos ], and his heart within his shaggy breast was
 divided whether to draw his sword, push the others
 aside, and kill the son of Atreus, or to restrain himself and check his anger.
 While he was thus in two minds, and was drawing his mighty sword from its
 scabbard, Athena came down from heaven (for Hera had sent her in the love
 she bore to them both), and seized the son of Peleus by his yellow hair,
 visible to him alone, for of the others no man could see her. Achilles turned
 in amaze, and by the fire that flashed from her eyes at once knew that she was